Production of “green fuels” aimed at addressing the effects of climate change is actually making it worse, research from Welsh scientists has found.

Productions of “green fuels” aimed at addressing the effects of climate change is actually making it worse, research from Welsh scientists has found.

A study published in the journal Nature by scientists from Bangor University has found that palm oil plantations to produce biofuels in the tropics could be accelerating the effects of climate change, with the creation of the plantations releasing prehistoric sources of carbon dioxide back into the atmosphere.

It throws into doubt the claim that biofuels grown in the tropics could help cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Scientists from Bangor University were part of an international team in Malaysia examining deforestation of peat swamps, which are being cleared to make way for oil palm trees.

The research raised fears that the carbon locked inside the peat is attacked by microbes and produce carbon dioxide, one of the major contributors to climate change greenhouse gases.

The Bangor research finds that ancient carbon comes from deep in the soil, which as the effects of deforestation take hold, breaks down and dissolves into the nearby watercourses.

Chris Freeman, professor of peatland biogeochemistry at the School of Biological Sciences, said: “We first noticed that the ditches draining areas converted to palm oil plantations were loaded with unusually high levels of dissolved carbon back in 1995.

“But it was not until my researcher Dr Tim Jones took samples to measure the age of that carbon that we realised we were onto something important”.

The researchers said that it made them a “major contributor” to peat swamp deforestation in the region.

Prof Freeman is establishing a postgraduate degree – the Wetland Science and Conservation MSc – on wetlands in a bid to understand more about the role of tropical peatlands on the climate.

Prof Freeman said: “Our results are yet another reminder that when we disturb intact peat swamps and convert them to industrial biofuel plantations, we risk adding to the very problem that we are trying to solve.

“We have known for some time that in South East Asia, oil palm plantations were a major threat to biodiversity, including the habitat for orangutans, and that the drainage could release huge amounts of carbon dioxide during the fires seen there in recent years.

“But this discovery of a ‘hidden’ new source of problems in the waters draining these peatlands is a reminder that these fragile ecosystems really are in need of conservation.”

The research follows on from research in 2011 from scientists at Bangor which revealed that more carbon dioxide was released into the environment by peat bogs during droughts, worsened by climate change, than previously realised.

Research on test sites in Wales revealed that droughts could “unlock” carbon in peat that has previously been trapped for centuries thanks to the “wetness” of peat – and the effects could last for as long as a decade afterwards.

Many of the world’s peatlands lie in regions predicted to experience increased and more severe droughts as a result of climate change.

The drying out of the peat could release vast stores of CO2 into the atmosphere over the course of a period up to a decade, even, when the drought has ended.

It also follows on from a call from the Wildlife Trusts to restore peat bogs in Wales in a bid to prevent catastrophic flooding and droughts, following a pilot project in Pumlumon, near Aberystwyth.

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